Dating standards
Which dealbreaker costs you the most men?
We took a realistic list and dropped one rule at a time. Income and body type cost the most. Height matters less than you'd think.
Every list has its dealbreakers. Some cost you a few men. Others wipe out most of the pool. We started from the meter's "Realistic" list and relaxed one rule at a time to see which ones really matter.
The Realistic list: single or divorced, straight, no criminal record, aged 27 to 37, lean to average build (13–22% body fat), at least 5'9" (175 cm), and earning at least 80,000 a year in local currency.
Drop one rule completely
Each column shows how many times bigger the pool gets when that one rule goes and everything else stays.
| Country | Realistic list | Any age | Any build | Any height | Any income | Record OK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 52,500 | ×2.5 | ×2.7 | ×1.8 | ×2.8 | ×1.3 |
| United States | 461,000 | ×2.4 | ×2.9 | ×1.8 | ×3.2 | ×1.3 |
| Canada | 72,800 | ×2.3 | ×3.0 | ×1.6 | ×3.9 | ×1.2 |
| New Zealand | 7,660 | ×2.2 | ×2.6 | ×1.7 | ×3.5 | ×1.4 |
| United Kingdom | 22,300 | ×2.6 | ×2.4 | ×1.6 | ×19.2 | ×1.2 |
Income costs the most. Dropping it roughly triples the pool in Australia and the US, and nearly quadruples it in Canada. In the UK it multiplies the pool by 19, because very few British men in their 20s and 30s earn £80,000.
Body type is close behind: accepting any build multiplies the pool by about 2.4 to 3. Opening the age range to anyone from 18 to 55 does about as much, but few people really want that.
Height matters less than its reputation: dropping 5'9" grows the pool by about 1.6 to 1.8 times. The criminal-record rule matters least: allowing a record adds only 15% to 40% more men, because most men don't have one.
Loosen a rule a little
You don't have to give anything up. Here's what small changes do: an age range of 24 to 42, body fat up to 27%, at least 5'7" (170 cm), or an income of at least 60,000.
| Country | Age 24–42 | Body fat to 27% | 5'7"+ | 60k+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | ×1.6 | ×1.6 | ×1.5 | ×1.5 |
| United States | ×1.6 | ×1.6 | ×1.4 | ×1.5 |
| Canada | ×1.5 | ×1.7 | ×1.3 | ×1.5 |
| New Zealand | ×1.5 | ×1.6 | ×1.4 | ×1.8 |
| United Kingdom | ×1.6 | ×1.6 | ×1.4 | ×2.2 |
Each small change adds roughly 35% to 75% more men. In the UK, lowering the income to £60,000 more than doubles the pool.
Multipliers come from the meter's model for each country as a whole. Within an age, filters are treated as independent, so real overlaps (for example, between height and income) aren't captured.
Run your own list on the meter
Estimates come from the same model as the meter: official population, census, health-survey and tax data for each country, combined age by age. Filters are treated as independent within each age, so treat the results as estimates, not a head count. The full method and sources are under "How it's calculated" on the meter.